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House V’neef
Older Dynasts have trouble taking “House” V’neef seriously, although the Empress never had any such problem. On the contrary, the Empress showed House V’neef a great deal of favor and saw to it that her House was well provided for. Some of the other Houses thought V’neef was a little too well cared for, but V’neef herself is charismatic and disarms her siblings with wit and charm. That’s the primary reason her House hasn’t been beset by her power-hungry siblings since the Empress’s disappearance. MASTER OF THE HOUSE V’neef herself, the youngest (and some have suggested favored) daughter of the Empress heads up this youngest and smallest of the Great Houses. Subtle and non-confrontational, V’neef manages her family more with carrots than sticks. The Empress conceived V’neef specifically as an experiment in blood purity. V’neef’s father had the purest Dragon-Blooded pedigree of any of the Empress’s husbands, and with the Empress’s strong blood, that gives V’neef the purest blood in the Dynasty. Thus far, all of her children who are old enough to Exalt have, and with numbers like that, V’neef’s House could grow to be as popular as Mnemon’s for breeding purposes. As the Great House that bears her name grows, V’neef will inevitably find it more difficult to keep a direct hand in all operations, but she is set on doing so for as long as possible. MAJOR LINES This Great House has not produced any other lines, major or minor. V’neef herself is only 60, and the entirety of House V’neef is smaller than a single household of some of the older Houses. V’neef has seven children (all fathered by her husband, one of the wealthier and less decadent Cynis), six of whom have Exalted thus far. As the smallest of the Great Houses by far, House V’neef is careful to protect the purity of its elemental aspect. Since V’neef and her husband are both strongly Wood-aspected, her children have all followed suit. ECONOMICS House V’neef has three major sources of income: its extensive wineries, its satrapies in the South and its control of the Merchant Navy. For years, Dynastic families were content to get their wine from the Threshold. When V’neef began making wine, the other Houses thought it a quaint idea. And then, the money began flowing in. Across the Realm, people were used to paying great sums for wine brought across the Inland Sea. V’neef could undercut that by just a small amount and still make a fortune. House Cynis alone keeps V’neef’s coffers brimming by buying wine by the cask for its enormous parties. In recent years, V’neef wine has become popular in the Threshold, and business is booming. House V’neef’s satrapies are all in the South. Since V’neef asks very reasonable tribute, all of the House’s tributary states are content to pay what they owe. More strategically, V’neef has a prime source of fi redust, of which she is taking ample advantage. While other Dynasts learn to shoot bows, V’neef has secretly taught all of her children to use fi rewands and a handful of appropriate Charms as well. V’neef’s control over the Merchant Navy is a recent matter. In an effort to shake up the power structure (and punish House Peleps for some small slight), the Empress granted V’neef control of that post just a decade before her disappearance. The point of this gift was to provide House V’neef with a source of revenue that would allow the young Dynast to support her burgeoning family. Whoever controls the Merchant Navy is entitled to a cut of the duties collected by its customs cutters. The Merchant Navy had previously been under the control of House Peleps, and its loss caused that House a great deal of hardship as it suddenly had to bear the cost of running the Imperial Navy without the benefi ts of customs duties. House V’neef’s control of the Merchant Navy is a critical fi nancial and military asset. V’neef carefully purged the chain of command of Peleps loyalists and replaced it with agents whose loyalties she knew lay with her. Recently, V’neef’s eldest adopted son has taken the top position with the Merchant Navy after working his way up through the ranks. GOALS AND ALLIANCES V’neef knows that she’s not in the running for the Scarlet Throne, although she would at least like the next ruler to be sympathetic to her cause. So, while she watches the other Houses pursue the throne, she tends to her vineyards and encourages her children to rack up as many favors as possible with the other Houses. Before House Tepet’s disastrous defeat in the Threshold, V’neef was planning on a series of intermarriages with that House. Since the destruction of the Tepet legions, she has put all negotiations on hold. Although she thinks highly of many of the young Tepets, she does not want her children to be married to legionnaires—which seems to be what all the young surviving Tepets are trying to become these days. V’neef has the luxury of waiting. Her appearance clearly marks her as one of extraordinarily strong blood, and all of her single Exalted children are already besieged with offers of marriage. She, and her children, simply have to pick the best of the lot. ILLUSTRIOUS DYNASTS OF THE HOUSE V’NEEF ALISET Though she graduated from the Cloister of Wisdom only a year after the Empress disappeared, V’neef Aliset is already showing herself to be a dynamic young woman. She has bright green eyes, spiky auburn hair and the green skin of a Wood Aspect of excellent breeding. She has spent two years abroad in the deep forests of the Far East, and she prefers it to most parts of the Realm. She’s an expert strategist, particularly with regard to the Hunting Cat variant of Gateway. Like her grandmother, she’s very charismatic and amiable. She also happens to be the youngest and most eligible woman in House V’neef, so she is a magnet for suitors. Matchmakers for Houses Mnemon, Tepet, Cynis and Cathak have all engaged in lengthy discussions of marriage with Aliset’s parents and grandmother. Aliset is happy to remain single for the moment, and she’s spoken with her grandmother about attending the Heptagram. Still, she knows it will be good for her House if she marries soon and well.